Career Paths

Todd
Pihl

The Great Wall of Experience

As a number of the bloggers here have noticed, one of the biggest obstacles that postdocs face in moving into the commercial world is the dreaded “3-5 years of business experience” requirement seen in so many ads.  Many times, it seems as if there are no entry-level positions at all!&nb...


Wenny
Lin

Political activities as a post-doc in the government

With the November elections coming up, I began thinking about how “political” you can get while doing a post-doc in the government. In grad school, I was surrounded by classmates who carpooled to New Hampshire on the weekends to do door-to-door campaigning for Obama. I have many friends who ...


Christie
Canaria

Help Me Help You on the Job Hunt

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be taking on another little “project” at work. This one won’t involve pipettes, chemicals, or the lab bench. Instead, it’ll be me, my reading glasses, a few labmates, and piles of resumes (and CVs). A great co-worker recently left the lab for greener pastu...


Marielena
Mata

Who is the Boss? Part 2

Last time I wrote about the boss and how to be a great one.  This time, I’d like to write about the qualities to look for in a boss based on my previous experiences.  Sometimes I think I’m too subjective about these things but, interestingly enough, when I read articles about great ...


Wenny
Lin

Five cons for doing a post-doc in the government

My previous post included five good reasons for doing a post-doc in the government. It seems only fair that I now list five “cons”: Approval is needed from the ethics office. Whether paid or unpaid, activities outside your post-doc must be approved by the ethics office at your governmen...


Mike
Chang

A decision I never regretted

Hello again! Last time, I left myself in the middle of the forest with a biochem degree and a year of forestry expertise. At that time, I was able to look at and smell a piece of wood and from the grain, texture and scent determine the species of tree from which the wood originated!! Technically...


Clement
Weinberger

How I got into freelance writing: An unintended consequence?

We've all been there. It's Sunday afternoon and the feeling of dread hits. Tomorrow is Monday and it's the start of another work week. I'd been working at a medical communications agency for about 3 years doing medical writing and publication planning. I was their one and only in-house PhD. It s...


Paul
McDonald

You have more skills than you think….

Greetings Bio Careers groupies.  This month has been crazy.  If you aren’t in the business world, then September 30th probably doesn’t mean much except maybe Oktoberfest is just around the corner.  This month has been busy, busy, busy at AxHill, trying to get “year end” ...


Ex Lab
Junkie

University and Class Distinctions (or The Money Gap)

My parents and older siblings are first generation immigrants. I am the first natural-born Canadian in my family. I grew up in a blue-collar neighborhood in a small bungalow. My parents would be considered uneducated, but I learned my most valuable lessons from them: Don’t pre-judge people. ...


Randall
Ribaudo

Getting a Job and Succeeding in Your Job: Three Layers to the Onion

Given the current state of the economy and current job market, it's predictable that the pressures and stresses on PhDs finishing their postdocs to find jobs are significant.  It's also becoming increasingly clear that opportunities in the traditional academic career path, although availabl...